convert 3D sketch to 2D sketch

[dgowans]

Is it possible to convert a 3D sketch to a 2D sketch? I've got a model that I inherited that I need to modify and there's a hole wizard feature that uses a 3D sketch to locate the holes. The holes are located correctly (for now), but for future modifications I'd rather have a 2D sketch locating the holes.

I'd rather not delete the feature and re-create due to parent/child relationships.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

You cannot convert a 3D sketch into a 2D sketch, but you can create a 2D sketch from a 3D sketch. However it will be a driven sketch which, by the sound of it, is not what you want.

What is the problem with modifying the 3D sketch?

 

[dgowans]

I'm mostly being picky about receiving a model that was hacked together - there's no reason to have a 3D sketch defining these hole locations. The 3D sketch is currently a driven sketch (from a 2D sketch, mind you), so I'll just have to live with it.

This is a pattern of holes on a planar surface and it will always stay that way, so I'd rather have the hole locations defined on the relevant plane rather than in a 3D sketch where they could potentially get hosed.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Can you not Edit Feature to directly use the driving 2D sketch? ... or would that hose the parent/child relationship you mentioned?

 

[dgowans]

I've been doing some more digging and the parent/child relationships were not as extensive as I initially thought. I've deleted the original hole wizard feature and re-created it. This caused a lot of sketch relationships to crap out and I lost a couple draft features and fillets, but I'm OK with that.

I don't mind redefining sketches and such, but what I didn't want to have happen was to have a lot of downstream features get deleted along with the hole wizard feature.

For my own information, how would I go about editing the hole wizard feature to use the 2D sketch? I looked at editing the feature, but the locations were defined in the 3D sketch and I couldn't figure out a way to change that.

 

[handleman]

I don't think you can change the referenced sketch of a hole wizard feature once it's been created. It would be nice to be able to do that - sort of like changing the sketch plane of an existing sketch. Another thing that would be nice would be the ability to create the location sketch prior to creating the hole wizard feature. It would make hole wizard features more like other features (create sketch, then add feature). It would also allow you to run macros while creating that sketch.

I think a lot of people end up with the 3D sketch located hole wizard holes because they just don't know how to use the hole wizard correctly. That's what I did until someone showed me the error of my ways.